A feminist geopolitics of the Soviet borderlands: Creative memory work with elderly women in Tajikistan

With Negar Elodie Behzadi

The Soviet modernization project in Central Asia sought to liberate women from Muslim traditions by integrating them into the workforce and Soviet institutions. However, little is known about women's lived experiences of this project in these Soviet borderlands. Our research embarks on a journey of memory work with elderly women, aged 60-100, who identified as being part of the Soviet elite (1954-1991) in the Socialist Soviet Republic (SSR) and possess living memories of the Soviet past. To accomplish this, we gather an interdisciplinary, multinational team comprising three scholars from feminist and gender studies, sociology, history, geography, and documentary filmmaking, all with extensive expertise in gender research in Central Asia.